I found the others quickly once I actually set off to find them. We were all tired so even the little ones weren't running around like they normally do, instead they were led a distance away from where Æstrid was sat, watching the clouds drift across the sky.
Æstrid was sat sketching as always, "Hi," she said, putting her pencil down when she noticed me, "how are you?"
"Better for being here with you rather than down there thinking," I told her, as I sat down on the ground next to her.
"I wish I could say it'll get better," she said, "but I'm sure dad would tell you that it doesn't."
"Thanks," I said, "real reassuring there."
She gave me a smile and opened her mouth to say something else but we were interrupted by out little brother.
Aleifr came running up to us with blood running down his arm. We tried to ask him what had happened but he cried so much it was indiscernible.
"He slipped trying to get up and cut himself on a rock," Frida said when she reached us.
"One of us will have to take him home," Æstrid sighed, "Where's Eilidh?"
"I don't know," Frida said, "that's why we were coming to see you." She looked down at the ground, "she ran off."
"I'll go find her," I told Æstrid, "I'll meet you back at the house."
"What about the sheep?" she asked.
"I'll sort them too," I said, "it shouldn't take too long."
"If you're sure," she said, picking up her things. Then they all headed back down the hill.
